Not to be outdone by its rival, Sotheby’s, as reported here, last week Christie’s in New York surpassed its prior record of $745 million set back in May at Christie’s contemporary art auction and brought in the “highest-ever for an auction” at its recent contemporary art auction “grossing $852.9 million across 75 lots.” Nearly all… Continue Reading

The Delaware Museum of Art, home to the Bankcroft Collection – a beautiful collection of Pre-Raphaelite art, recently received three generous gifts totaling $1.7M from two anonymous donors and prominent Wilmington, Delaware residents, Peggy and Edgar S. Woolard. The museum invested the funds in what has been named the Annette Woolard-Provine Endowed Curatorship, which is… Continue Reading

Earlier this week Sotheby’s opened the fall auction season with an impressive record high of $422 million in sales in a single auction for the world’s fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation. As reported here, of the 73 lots up for auction, 15 lots did not sell, hence the average sell-through rate of 79… Continue Reading

This week Skate’s LLC, often referred to as one of the world’s leading art investment firms, released its inaugural Masterpieces Market Report for the third quarter of 2014. If you haven’t already noticed from my previous posts on Skate’s publications, I am a frequent reader and admirer of Skate’s various reports, which I personally find… Continue Reading

Last week, Nasher Art Museum, the museum of my alma mater, Duke University, received a generous $1 million donation from Dallas entrepreneur and collector, Derek Wilson (Duke, Trinity College ’86; Fuqua School of Business ’90) and his wife Christen, an avid connoisseur of art and fashion in her own right. I worked at the museum (before being… Continue Reading

The Washington Post recently reported that a Mexican anti-money-laundering law that went into effect last year has unintentionally “frozen” the art market. The anti-money-laundering law is aimed at “limiting the use of cash and requiring [certain] businesses to give more information to the government about their customers.” Gallery owners and auction houses have become “collateral… Continue Reading

A fascinating article on Bloomberg.com recently highlighted the globally based Artist Pension Trust (APT), which is claimed to hold the largest global collection of contemporary art, including 10,000 contributed artworks from 2,000 artists in 75 different countries. APT offers artists a unique blend of artist collective and hedge fund. Launched ten years ago by high-tech… Continue Reading

In Part 2 of Skate’s Annual Art Investment Report for 2013, Skate’s Art Market Research reveals its Art Industry Scorecard 2013, a unique art industry rating created by Skate’s in 2012. The companies selected for the recently developed rating participate in the art industry either through a significant part of their activities or have an… Continue Reading

Last month, Sotheby’s sold the art collection of former jeweler to the stars, art collector and former chairman of the Folk Art Museum in New York City, Ralph O. Esmerian. Fetching $13M USD, the sale has been reported to be the highest for any American folk art collection. As reported in a previous blog post, Esmerian… Continue Reading

The well-known art collector and financier Asher Edelman has instituted a lawsuit in Manhattan claiming that his firm, ArtAssure, was fleeced of over $200 million arising out of an allegedlly fraudulent art transaction. ArtAssure claims that it was fraudulently induced by the Swiss firm Artmentum to believe that Japan’s Hiroshima Art Museum was trying to sell approximately $400… Continue Reading

Ralph Esmerian, jeweler, art collector and former chairman of the now defunct Folk Art Museum in New York City, is currently serving a six-year prison term for wire fraud and other charges. As part of his fraudulent scheme, Esmerian, promised to donate 263 works of art to the Folk Art Museum in 2005. At the… Continue Reading

As a supplement to its highly acclaimed publications devoted to the state of the global art market, Skate’s Art Market Research recently launched its latest publication entitled Skate’s Focus. In its selection of the country of Poland, regarded as a “young but innovative and quickly growing art market in central Europe,” for the pilot issue Skate’s… Continue Reading

The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art is in a slump. It has reportedly faced an exodus of board members and challenges raising money. Now, according to this article in the New York Times, after exploring the potential for a merger to help with its finances, the the Museum appears to have decided to try to… Continue Reading

A recent contemporary art auction at Sotheby’s in London brought in more than £74 million, which, according to the Huffington Post, is the auction house’s second-highest total for a February sale of contemporary art in London. The sale of the auction included works by Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and Francis Bacon. According to the article, buyers from 14 countries participated… Continue Reading

With the first half of 2012 already well past, a disappointing period particularly in the Asian art auction market, fine art investors and dealers look ahead to the remaining months of the year as a potential rebound in terms of supply of fine art presented at auction and in the amounts paid, if the world… Continue Reading

According to the New York Times, Ileana Sonnabend’s heirs and the IRS will go to Court next month to debate the fair market value of an object that cannot be sold. Canyon by Robert Rauschenberg includes a stuffed bald eagle, which is under federal protection by the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Portection Act and the… Continue Reading

Freeports, especially those in Switzerland, are gold mines of valuable art, according to this New York Times article. Simon Studer, a gallerist, tells of a job he had 25 years ago at the Freeport in Geneva, examining thousands of Picasso works. Art collectors, gallerists, and dealers are interested in these Freeports for both the security… Continue Reading

Following their American counterparts, which occurred last month in New York, Contemporary art sales in London held strong this week. An article in The Art Newspaper discusses these successes but asks "how much longer the art market, especially at the top end, would remain unaffected by the turmoil in the global economy." Certain blue chip… Continue Reading

According to Skate’s Art Market Research, "the contemporary segment experienced the most valuable sales results in May." The most expensive piece at these auctions, Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow, sold for $86.9 million – almost double its estimate. The work is the most valuable work by Rothko ever sold. Repeat sales also showed the strength of… Continue Reading

With art prices rising higher and higher, speculators wonder if art is and will continue to be a good investment. After all, eleven of the twenty highest prices ever paid at auction have occurred since the financial bubble burst in 2008. Adam Davidson asks this question in this New York Times Magazine article. He explains… Continue Reading

In this article, the Economist finds a disparity between the price of art works by men and works by women. At a recent auction at Christie’s which brought in $388 million, for example, 20% of works were by women, but less than 5% of total profits came from those works. The average price of the ten… Continue Reading

This week, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury will take turns selling blue chip Contemporary Art at their respective May sales. After Sotheby’s success at its Impressionist and Modern sale last week, what should we expect from these auctions? According to ArtInfo, a Rothko titled "Orange, Red, Yellow" (1961) at an estimate of $35-45 million… Continue Reading

Sotheby’s will auction Edvard Munch’s "The Scream," one of four versions of the work, on May 1. According to this article, the work has been parodied and referenced many times since its creation, making it a cultural icon, like the Mona Lisa, and is correspondingly estimated at over $80 million. [This entry was drafted with… Continue Reading